Sharmila declared that their struggle on behalf of the unemployed would persist, regardless of any attempts to impede their actions or those of their workers. So in an unexpected political development in Andhra Pradesh, YS Sharmila Reddy, the Chief of Andhra Pradesh Congress, spent the night in her party office in Vijayawada to evade potential house arrest, a day before the scheduled ‘Chalo Secretariat’ protest led by the Congress cadre under her leadership.
In her address at Andhra Ratna Bhavan in Vijayawada, YS Sharmila criticized Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, asserting that he has utterly failed in addressing crucial issues concerning the youth, unemployed, and students over the past five years.
The protest aims to highlight the challenges faced by unemployed youth and students, demanding the state government’s attention to these issues. YS Sharmila criticized Chief Minister YS Jagan Mohan Reddy, asserting that he has failed to address crucial problems faced by the youth, unemployed, and students over the past five years.
Expressing her concern on social media, she wrote, “If we call for a protest on behalf of the unemployed, will you try to keep us under house arrest? Don’t we have the right to protest in a democracy? Is it not shameful that as a woman I have been forced to evade the police and spend the night in the Congress Party office to avoid house arrest?”
Continuing her criticism of the state government, she questioned, “Are we terrorists or anti-social forces? They are trying to stop us, meaning they (the government) are afraid of us. They are trying to hide their incompetence, the real truth. Even if they try to stop us or our workers, our struggle on behalf of the unemployed will not stop.”
In a subsequent post, Sharmila described the heavy police presence, iron fences, and the perceived confinement imposed on them. She accused the government of being dictatorial and called for an apology to the unemployed from the YCP Sarkar.
Lok Sabha MP Manickam Tagore, Congress in charge of Andhra Pradesh, also criticized the state government’s approach, describing it as dictatorial and emphasizing the need to uphold democratic principles and respect the right to peaceful protest. Massive police deployment has been observed at the Andhra Pradesh Congress committee Headquarters in Vijayawada in anticipation of the ‘Chalo Secretariat’ march.